While I slept peacefully, thanks the Seroquel I take for my insomnia, hundreds of people were running for their lives. As a deadly massacre took place in the city I once lived in for more than 10 years, where I went to high school. The city of sin and lights…Las Vegas.

This is a city where my mom, sister, brother-in-law, nieces and nephews still live. While I am not a big country music fan, my sister and her family are. Luckily, they were not at the concert that night, but many others were. But what if they had made the Route 91 concert a family event? What if they all had gone that night?

On October 1, a man with no criminal record, no parking tickets and no reported history of mental illness opened fire into a massive crowd of music fans from his suite on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old, apparently “normal” and rather affluent retiree turned gambler, was armed with 23 weapons and thousands or rounds of ammunition. Many of the semi-automatic rifles were outfitted with bump stocks that effectively turned them into automatic weapons.

That is what makes the law enforcement response so unbelievable. Amid over 10 minutes of automatic gunfire spraying down on the Las Vegas Strip, which ultimately killed at least 58 and wounded 500, local police officers ushered tens of thousands of other people to safety. I say this out of respect, especially since my uncle Nicholas Estavillo was the highest-ranking Hispanic police officer in New York Police Department history.

Yes, in 2002 Nicholas Estavillo became the first Puerto Rican and first Hispanic to be named Chief of Patrol. When I spoke to him years ago he said that he recalled 9/11 and every bit of the horrific event.

Still, I admit I can often feel uncomfortable around police officers. I’m like anyone else who hates to get pulled over, hates parking tickets, and hates to feel harassed for something they didn’t do. I don’t want to say that I “hate” cops, but let’s just say they’re not my favorite folks to hang around with on a day to day basis. Perhaps that is an unfair statement as I don’t personally know many other cops. I do not have family picnics with my NYPD family members. I have yet to even meet most of them. We have an unsaid “you do your thing and I’ll do mine” arrangement. In other words, we’re not “tight.”

Regardless of my personal feelings, I have to be frank when I say that it takes a real tragedy to really feel the brunt of what first responders go through. It takes death, even a massacre to realize that, my God, our men and women in blue ought to be praised and fucking thanked each and every day! While police brutality exists, there many more incidents like the Vegas massacre that show how police officers are the first to run towards the bullets rather than away from them. I’m not here to debate police brutality or police in general. I’m just here to say that there are bad apples in every bunch. But we can’t let them spoil the entire orchard.

While I realize that this is a sensitive topic for many, I’m going to lay it all out there. I thank police officers all around our country for the jobs they do day in and day out. I thank all the first responders who risked their lives during 9/11 and I thank the police officers that saved lives in Las Vegas. I am saddened by the police officers that were killed or wounded that day, and I’m devastated by so much carnage and death on October 1st, 2017 the largest mass shooting in U.S. history.

I am not going to argue with you over gun control. I am not going to argue with you over whether or not you like the police or think they are all brutal racists. What I will say is that my uncle is a Hispanic and he is not a racist, and he has lived his entire life defending people. He was a U.S. Marine in Vietnam, too. There are so many more good cops out there than bad. They are heroes who often aren’t recognized for the right reasons.

I thank all of the men and women in blue for their service.

Please Read The Participating Bloggers On The Subject Of Thanking A Profession:

Wow. This is a beautiful post. I agree… our men and women in blue deserve our appreciation for risking their lives to save others. I admire the courage they show in times such as the ones you described.

One of my moms (yeah.. I adopted her with love) was also in Las Vegas at the time of the incident and I was so worried when I saw the news on TV. But thanks be to God, she and the whole fam turned out to be safe.

Thank you for this lovely post. What a horrific event Las Vegas has been through. I also heard that this man was trying to check in somewhere near the Life is Beautiful Festival where Kobi was at with 50,000 other people the weekend before. Scary thought.

That’s terrifying and so scary that no one saw this coming. It’s a tragedy beyond words and even my own don’t do what happened in Las Vegas justice. It’s horrible. I’m just so glad all of you skipped the concert. I didn’t know he was trying to check in at that other festival. He definitely had this planned for some time, but the motive still remains unclear.

That’s nuts, I’ll have to read that article. I actually heard about that festival. I thought I heard that he was trying to or had more than one hotel room at one point? He also tried to blow up the fuel trucks at McCarran airport!

No matter how hard we try, we can’t get in everyone’s head to figure out their thoughts or why they do the horrible things they do. That makes the jobs of police officers so very difficult. Your comment on their being bad apples in every profession is spot on. That’s an unfortunate truth but I believe the vast majority are good people who were drawn to the force because of the desire to protect and to serve. They all have a sense of duty and courage that should be commended.

It’s hard to find the motive, it’s so true. We want to know “why” but maybe there is no logic. There are definitely good and bad in every profession. I commend anyone that goes into a profession to protect and serve, it’s a huge responsibility.

A lot of immature adults equate guns with the power that they wish to have.

Earlier today i was telling my next door neighbor about how i was complimenting a police officer (for their dedication and fine work) when i was nearby (near the officer) as we were both getting gas at a gas station. The officer said that, yes, it is a very tough job (contending, often, with the worst of the worst).
People don’t appreciate the good police enough!

I’ve never felt the need to own a gun myself. But, I am happy to hear that the NRA today has agreed to back a total ban against bump stock types of additions that people can turn a semi-automatic into a fully automatic. Police officers know the job they have and signed up for is a tough one. I think many people don’t realize how hard.

Good to know you and your family are safe! Thanks for appreciating the police officers and first responders in this post. This incident is so heartbreaking. So many lives are being ruined with senseless shooting and insane shooters. This has got to stop!

This is a great tribute to policemen! It’s sad they (and many other professions) aren’t appreciated and may even have a bad reputation because of a few bad apples, yet when something as horrifying as the LV shooting happens, it’s them who try and bring peace and order back. Thanks for sharing this. 😀

[…] Finally, the incredible Sonyo Estavillo wrote a post specifically thanking those in Las Vegas who responded to the horrific shooting, most especially the police officers. Sonyo points out that she used to live in Las Vegas, and that this shooting was absolutely horrific for many, many reasons; that the shooter had no record is one of those, but that he did something like this at an event that’s generally considered to be family-friendly is even worse. She has some country music fans in her family who still live in the area, and she’s grateful they weren’t there…but as she knows that “there but for the grace of God” goes her family, she felt the need to write a post thanking the policemen (and other first responders). […]